During the Great War, Backwater Station was a military base. A Confederatecommand center was located on an adjacent ridge to the east, although whether this can be considered part of the station proper is speculative, given its isolation and that it didn't appear on any maps of the area.[1]

Backwater Station became the center of Terran Dominion logistics on Mar Sara when Dominion forces set up a logistics headquarters in the town.[4] The Dominion forcibly shipped citizens from there to excavate a xel'naga artifact at White Rock Base.[5] The people of Backwater Station were anti-Dominion, but lacked weapons and organization. In 2504, shortly after the Dominion pulled troops out of the city, Raynor's Raiders moved to destroy their authority there. The locals assisted Raynor in destroying the logistics headquarters.[4] Raynor seized weapons and distributed them to the local populace.[6]

The zerg landed on Mar Sara as Raynor and Tychus Findlay waited for transport off-world at Backwater Station. Raynor had his marines man bunkers and hold two bridges long enough for them to be extracted by the Hyperion.[7]